THEMES & SPEAKERS

PROFESSOR LEONIE HEILBRONN is an internationally recognised clinical research scientist based within the School of Medicine at Adelaide University and the Lifelong Health Theme at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). Her work integrates clinical trials, mechanistic physiology, and translational science to understand how interventions such as energy restriction, intermittent fasting, and time-restricted eating impact glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and long-term disease risk. Professor Heilbronn is known for translating fundamental science into practical strategies for disease prevention and management, with a strong focus on real-world impact and healthy aging. She has published more than 160 original research articles with more than 17,000 citations. She holds leadership positions in academia and research and is the immediate Past President of the Australian New Zealand Obesity Society and Editor-in-Chief for Obesity Research and Clinical Practice.

Sung Nim Han is the professor at the department of Food and Nutrition at Seoul National University. She received PhD degree in Human Nutrition from Tufts University, USA and completed dietetic internship at Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA. She continued her research in the field of nutritional immunology as Scientist and Assistant Professor at JM USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University until she moved to Seoul National University in 2007.

Dr. Han is a founding member of the Korean Society of Clinical Nutrition, where served as Vice President (2018-2019) and President (2021). She also served as Vice President (2021-2022) and President (2023) of the Korean Nutrition Society. In addition, she contributed to revision of the 2020 Korean Dietary Reference Intakes (KDRIs) and 2025 KDRIs. She is serving as Vice President of the Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis in 2026. She has been a member of the advisory committee for policies related to upcycled foods.

Dr. Han received several awards in recognition of her achievements in the field of nutrition. In 2019, she was awarded by the Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare for her outstanding contributions. She is also the recipient of NRP the most cited paper award from the Korean Nutrition Society (2019), the JLA award from the Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (2023), and 2026 Friedman School Excellence in Nutrition Alumni Award (2026).

Dr. Han has authored more than 110 original and review papers and over 25 book chapters. Her 2018 review paper published in Nutrients has been cited 772 times (as of Feb 10, 2026). Her research focuses on alterations in vitamin and mineral metabolisms in chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes; regulation of immune and inflammatory responses by vitamins and dietary lipids; changes in immunometabolism associated with chronic diseases; and the effects of genetic information disclosure on dietary intake and health related behaviors.

Dr. Zhen-Yu CHEN is currently professor at School of Food Science in Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. He used to be Choh-Ming Li Chair professor at School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Professor Chen has published more than 300 SCI papers with a total citation of >23000 times and an H-index of 86. Professor Chen is the former Associate Editor of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Professor Chen is currently Editor of Food Chemistry, Associate Editor of Phytomedicine, Associate Editor of Food Reviews International, and Senior Editor of Food & Medicine Homology. He also serves as a member of the Editorial Boards including Journal of Functional Foods, Food & Function, Food Science and Human Wellness, Biomedical and Environmental Sciences, and Acta Nutrimenta Sinica. Professor Chen has received several awards including the Advancement of Application of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society, the High Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award for Natural Science from the China Ministry of Education, and the Medal of Honour (MH) from Hong Kong SAR Government in recognition of his contributions to the promotion of food safety and protection of public health. Professor Chen is also the Fellow of American Chemical Society (Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division, USA) the Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and the Fellow of International Society of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods.

Prof. Mieke Uyttendaele is Full Professor of Food Safety at Ghent University (UGent). She holds a Bio‑Science Engineering degree (1992) and a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences (1996). Her leadership roles include Faculty Director of Studies and Internationalization (2020–2025) and presently she chairs the Education group within ICA, the Association for European Life Science Universities. As a member of the Food Microbiology and Food Preservation Research Group at UGent, her work focuses on major foodborne pathogens - including Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Bacillus cereus and norovirus - covering detection methods, prevalence studies, control measures and risk profiling to support food safety management and microbiological criteria. She is the main author of the UGent book on microbiological guidelines and the ‘Pathogen-free food?’ book. She has published over 300 peer‑reviewed papers, supervised around 30 PhD students, and currently leads microbial hazard research within the EU FoodSafeR project.

Mark is a Professor of Food Microbiology and Discipline Head, Food Science & Technology in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability at the University of Queensland. He is Deputy Lead of the Innovative Ingredients program in the Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA). He leads a research team in the area of food fermentation, quality and safety. His current research focus is around food lactic acid bacteria and fungal fermentation applications and precision fermentation. He teaches into food microbiology, food safety and food biotechnology courses at UQ and is a Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology and Australian Institute for Food Science and Technology (AIFST). He was the recipient of the 2017 AIFST Keith Farrer Award of Merit and 2023 AIFST President’s Award. He is currently the President of the Australian Association for Food Protection.

Xiang Wang got his PhD degree in Applied Biological Sciences from Ghent University, Belgium. He further pursued research at University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) and situated at the Department of Food Quality and Food Safety. His research area covers aspects of microbial analysis of foods and microbial food safety. He obtains the data on prevalence, behavior (predictive microbiology) and biological characteristics (including stress response) of foodborne pathogens (including antimicrobial-resistant bacteria) in foods and applying the data to microbial risk assessment in the food supply chain. He is a member of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) (2023-2027). He has published more than 150 research and review articles, as well as over 5 book chapters.

Ihab Habib is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology, Food Safety, and Veterinary Public Health at the United Arab Emirates University, where he founded and leads the Veterinary Public Health Research Laboratory (est. 2020). From 2015 to 2019, he was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology at Murdoch University, Australia. Dr Habib complete postdoctoral research at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and before at and the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of Ghent University, Belgium. His research centers on One Health, food safety from farm to fork, foodborne AMR, and the genomic epidemiology and risk assessment of foodborne zoonoses. Ihab Habib has held academic and research roles in Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. He has co-authored more than 100 Scopus-listed articles and contributed as an expert for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations / World Health Organization Joint Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment on controlling Campylobacter and Salmonella in poultry. He is a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Risk-Benefit Assessment of Optimal Intake of Animal-Source Foods.

Vince Sewalt has degrees in Animal Science from Wageningen Agricultural University and in Nutrition from Virginia Tech. After biotech post‐docs with Agriculture Canada and the Noble Foundation, Vince led R&D programs at Pioneer Hi-Bred and Kemin Industries. He then pursued Biotech Regulatory & Advocacy roles with Genencor/DuPont and founded the IFF Public Affairs team. Vince is passionate about capacity building in biotech acceptance & regulatory strategy for new applications and markets. He filed numerous GRAS notices and other submissions with US and Canadian regulatory agencies and has shared his insights in conferences and with trade associations, NGOs, and regulatory agencies such as the US FDA, US EPA, USDA and their counterparts in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Vince has been an active board member of BIO, the Enzyme Technical Association, and New Harvest and reviewer/editor for the journal Industrial Biotechnology. Vince is a prolific author of publications in engineering biology and serves as scientific advisor and regulatory strategy consultant to academic and industry partners around the globe.

Professor Cordelia Selomulya is Head of the School of Chemical Engineering at UNSW Sydney and Research & Commercialisation Director of the Future Food Systems CRC. She is an internationally recognised leader in food engineering, with research spanning encapsulation, smart drying, protein functionality, and sustainable food processing. Her work bridges fundamental science and industrial application through extensive collaborations with global food and ingredients companies. Professor Selomulya is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering, Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Institute of Food Technologists, and a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts. Her leadership focuses on translating advanced food engineering into scalable, resilient, and sustainable food systems.

Rohan A. Shirwaiker is the James T. Ryan Distinguished Professor in Industrial & Systems Engineering and Director of the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at NC State University. He is an interdisciplinary educator, researcher, and thought leader working at the intersection of advanced manufacturing and biotechnology. His technical expertise spans product, process, and systems engineering for regenerative medicine and sustainable food applications. Shirwaiker is a Fellow of IISE and a recipient of awards including the NSF CAREER and SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer. At the Bezos Center at NC State, he leads a diverse team of researchers, educators, and trainees working alongside industry collaborators to address critical precompetitive challenges in the biomanufacturing of plant-based, cell-cultivated, and fermentation-enabled proteins. He is also deeply engaged in professional service, holding leadership roles in various regional, national, and international scholarly and community initiatives.

Dr. Rickey Yada is Professor and Dean, Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Life Sciences (University of Alberta). From 2014 to 2024, he was Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (University of British Columbia). Prior to UBC, Dr. Yada was at the University of Guelph including Chair, Department of Food Science, Assistant Vice President Research, Canada Research Chair in Food Protein Structure, and Scientific Director of the Advanced Foods and Materials Network (Networks of Centres of Excellence Canada).

Dr. Yada is a co-editor of Trends in Food Science and Technology and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He is an advisor to other Boards of research and industry organizations, such as the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network, Canadian Food Innovation Network and Saltagen Ventures Limited (Hong Kong). Other positions include Technical Advisor, CDL Rockies; Advisory Committee Member at Arrell Food Institute; Member of the Scientific Advisory Panels: Riddet Institute (New Zealand) and Sydney Institute of Agriculture (University of Sydney, Australia).

Dr. Yada is the Past President of the Deans Council of the Faculties of Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Medicine in Canada; Past President and Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology, and the International Academy of the International Union of Food Science and Technology; as well as a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists, and Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division (American Chemical Society). Dr. Yada has an honorary DSc (University of Guelph) and Pro Scientia et Humanitate Medal (University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland).

Antonella Di Pizio is an Associate Professor of Chemoinformatics and Protein Modelling at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Since 2018, she has led the Molecular Modelling Group at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology. Her current research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of taste and olfactory perception. Prof. Di Pizio is committed to digitising food molecular systems and developing predictive models that align food technology with human health and sensory preference, thereby facilitating data-driven food transformation.